5.  The applicant was born in 1983 and lives in Kharkiv.
6.  On 17 November 2004 I. and D.K. were arrested on suspicion of attempting to arrange the murder of V., a businessman working in Kharkiv. Both suspects were questioned. D.K. admitted his involvement in the crime and said that the applicant had initiated the plot and agreed to pay for the crime.
7.  On 19 November 2004 the Kyiv Prosecutor’s Office instituted criminal proceedings against the applicant, I. and D.K. on suspicion of attempting to arrange the murder of V.
8.  The investigative authorities submitted the following account of events. The applicant’s father and V. were business partners. The applicant was well acquainted with V. and persuaded him to enter into a deal with R. R. then swindled V., causing him serious financial damage. V. suspected the applicant of collusion with R., and their relationship seriously deteriorated. The applicant then decided to arrange the murder of V. For this purpose, the applicant met D.K., who lived in Kyiv and offered to assist him in arranging the murder of V. The applicant wired money to D.K. to buy a gun. D.K. started to look for a gun and an assassin to hire. He met I., who suggested that he speak to Yu.K. as a possible assassin. When they met, Yu.K. asked D.K. for information about V. and gave him a list of questions. The applicant provided some of the answers to D.K. He also gave D.K. some money to be transferred to Yu.K. After Yu.K. had received the information and the money, he refused to commit the murder and approached the law-enforcement authorities.
9.  At about 11 p.m. on 20 November 2004 the police arrested the applicant at his apartment in Kharkiv, took him to the police station in Kharkiv and then escorted him to Kyiv (about 450 kilometres away).
10.  During that night and the morning of 21 November 2004 the applicant was allegedly beaten by police officers to make him confess to the crime. According to the applicant, the police officers placed a gas mask over his head and blocked the access to air; they also hung him up by handcuffs fixed to his wrists. He had no access to a doctor in that period.
11.  In the morning of 21 November 2004 the applicant’s father hired a lawyer from Kharkiv, N.B., to represent the applicant.
12.  Between 8.10 a.m. and 11.05 a.m. on that date a police officer questioned the applicant as a witness in the case. The questioning was carried out without a lawyer. Before being questioned the applicant had been warned that refusing to give evidence and giving false evidence were criminal offences. At the same time he was apprised of Article 63 of the Constitution, which provides that a person is not liable for refusal to give evidence regarding himself or herself and his or her relatives.
13.  During questioning the applicant admitted that he had asked D.K. to find someone who could murder V. in exchange for money. D.K. had answered in the affirmative and they had agreed a price and the terms. They later met in Kharkiv to inspect the locality. D.K. had taken part of the payment from the applicant. Subsequently, D.K. had been arrested and the plan to murder V. had fallen through.
14.  After questioning, the applicant wrote a confession and submitted it to the police officer who had questioned him. According to the applicant, he wrote a confession, as dictated by a police officer, to avoid any further ill‑treatment.
15.  At 1.05 p.m. on 21 November 2004 an investigator of the Shevchenkivskyy District Prosecutor’s Office of Kyiv questioned I. in the presence of her lawyer. I. admitted that she had helped D.K. to look for a gun and someone who could commit a contract murder. She had assisted him in approaching Yu.K. as a possible assassin. She further stated that she knew nothing about the applicant.
16.  At 1.30 p.m. on 21 November 2004 the investigator, relying on Articles 106 and 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, issued an arrest report in respect of the applicant. According to the report, the applicant was arrested on the grounds that he had been identified by an eyewitness. The applicant was apprised of his procedural rights as a suspect.
17.  At 1.50 p.m. on 21 November 2004 the investigator apprised the applicant of his rights under Article 63 of the Constitution and his right to have a lawyer. The applicant designated two lawyers who had been admitted to the proceedings: a legal aid lawyer provided by the investigator and N.B., hired by his father.
18.  At 2 p.m. on 21 November 2004 the investigator questioned the applicant as a suspect. Before the questioning, the applicant’s rights under Article 63 of the Constitution were explained to him. The applicant was questioned in the presence of the legal aid lawyer. Lawyer N.B. was absent. During questioning the applicant gave details of his communication with D.K. and claimed that he had not taken any action with a view to arranging the murder of V.
19.  On 22 November 2004 a confrontation between the applicant and the other suspect, D.K., was arranged with the assistance of the applicant’s legal aid lawyer. The applicant contended that he had not asked D.K. to arrange the murder; D.K. insisted that the applicant had asked him to do so.
20.  On 24 November 2004 the Shevchenkivskyy District Court of Kyiv extended the applicant’s preliminary detention to ten days.
21.  On 25 November 2004 the investigator arranged confrontations between I. and D.K., and later between D.K. and Yu.K. Both I. and D.K. were assisted by lawyers.
22.  On 30 November 2004 the applicant and I. were charged with the crime and questioned. According to the verbatim record, they were questioned at the same time.
23.  On the same date the applicant was questioned in the presence of both of his lawyers. He maintained his previous statements of 21 November 2004 when he had been questioned as a suspect.
24.  I. was also questioned in the presence of her lawyer. She stated that in September 2004 D.K. had approached her to help him find a gun. She had assisted him in looking for a gun, but to no avail. She had further arranged and participated in the meeting between D.K. and Yu.K. during which the former had explained that the latter’s task would be to “remove” a person living in Kharkiv. She had acted as an intermediary in passing money between D.K. and Yu.K.
25.  On the same date, 30 November 2004, the Shevchenkivskyy District Court of Kyiv ordered the applicant’s pre-trial detention for two months.
26.  On 21 December 2004 I. died in a road accident.
27.  On 14 and 28 January 2005 the applicant was questioned in the absence of N.B. but in the presence of the legal aid lawyer. According to the verbatim record provided by the Government, while being questioned on 14 January 2005 the applicant had informed the investigator that his confession of 21 November 2004 had been obtained by means of ill‑treatment.
28.   The trial of the applicant and D.K. commenced in March 2005 at the Kyiv Court of Appeal, acting as a first-instance court. Before the trial, the applicant dismissed N.B. and subsequently, on 28 March 2005, he also dismissed the legal aid lawyer and appointed another lawyer.
29.  During the trial the applicant and D.K. denied the charges. The applicant insisted that his negotiations with D.K. and the other persons had not meant that he had wanted V. dead; his intention had been to make R. explain to V. that the applicant had not been involved in R.’s fraud.
30.  The applicant further submitted that he had been arrested at 11 p.m. on 20 November 2004, taken to the police station in Kharkiv and then escorted to Kyiv. He alleged that police officers had hit him in the stomach with truncheons, placed a gas mask over his head and blocked his access to air, which had made it impossible to breathe, and that his hands had swelled because the handcuffs had been too tight. This treatment had resulted in his confessing to the crime.
31.  D.K. asserted that after his arrest, the police officers had started to threaten him so he had simply given up and signed all the documents he had been told to sign. The court called his girlfriend as a witness. She stated that on 17 November 2004 she had also been taken to the police station together with D.K. On that day she had been questioned for six hours, during which the police officers had sworn and shouted at her, and threatened to rape her. After her release, she had gone to a doctor for examination.
32.  When the court summoned the police officers, the applicant identified one police officer who had hit him in the stomach and another who had placed a gas mask over his head. D.K. identified the police officer who had abused him psychologically. The girlfriend of D.K. identified the police officer who had shouted at her and threatened to rape her. The police officers denied the allegations of psychological and physical ill-treatment. They admitted that they had arrested the applicant in Kharkiv and had taken him to Kyiv.
33.  The court also questioned the investigator, who submitted that the applicant had made no complaints of ill-treatment and that the applicant had been assisted by the legal aid lawyer during questioning. In the investigator’s opinion, this had been sufficient to ensure the applicant’s defence rights.
34.  On 25 June 2005 the court found the applicant guilty of attempting to arrange a murder and sentenced him to four and a half years’ imprisonment. The court also found that there had been no indication of a plan for the murder to be committed by a group of people and dismissed that part of the accusation.
35.  The court based its findings on the applicant’s confession of 21 November 2004 and other self-incriminating statements given throughout the pre-trial investigation; the evidence provided by the co-defendant at the pre-trial investigation; and the witness evidence provided by Yu.K. and others during the pre-trial investigation and the trial. Given the fact that by the time the trial took place, I. had died, the court examined the statements that I. had made during the pre-trial investigation. The court also referred to the material evidence and the expert opinions.
36.  The court rejected the argument of the defence that the applicant should have been regarded as having voluntarily refused to commit the crime. It found in this regard that the applicant had been prevented from committing the crime by the witness, Yu.K., who had informed the law-enforcement authorities that the crime was being arranged.
37.  The court further dismissed the arguments of the defence that the evidence obtained by the investigation had been inadmissible. It noted that there had been no indication that the applicant had been unlawfully arrested and detained, or that he had been subjected to ill-treatment; neither had there been any violation of the applicant’s rights of defence. Those rights had been properly explained to him and he had been properly represented by lawyers during the investigation. The fact that the records of the applicant’s and I.’s questioning of 30 November 2004 indicated that they had been carried out at the same time did not compromise the validity of those two separate measures.
38.  On 15 and 18 July the applicant’s lawyer submitted objections, which were included in the verbatim record of the hearings.
39.  On 25 July 2005 the applicant’s lawyer appealed in cassation, claiming that the first-instance court had misinterpreted the facts; wrongly assessed the evidence; failed properly to examine the applicant’s submissions, including those concerning his unlawful detention and ill‑treatment and the violation of his defence rights; and unduly relied on I.’s statements.
40.  On 2 February 2006 the Supreme Court held a hearing on the applicant’s case. After it had heard the parties to the proceedings, including the applicant and his lawyer, and examined the evidence in the case, the Supreme Court dismissed the cassation appeal as groundless. It referred to the available evidence, including the applicant’s confession of 21 November 2004, and found that the applicant’s guilt had been well established. It also found that the applicant had been arrested and detained lawfully, the police officers had not pressurised the applicant and his defence rights had not been impaired. It therefore upheld the judgment of the first-instance court in respect of the applicant.